For one of percutaneous coronary angioplasties, there has been known, for example, a PTCA (Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty) operation.
In this PTCA operation, in case of applying a method via femoral artery, blood flow inside a blood vessel is restored by way of the following procedures. More specifically, <I> first, a sheath catheter is inserted into a femoral artery; subsequently, a guide wire for guide catheter is inserted thereinto; the guide catheter is advanced along the guide wire for guide catheter in a state of advancing the distal end thereof until the vicinity of a coronary artery entrance; and the distal end thereof is positioned at the coronary arterial orifice. <II> Next, the guide wire for guide catheter is pulled out; a guide wire for balloon catheter is inserted inside the guide catheter; and the guide wire for balloon catheter is projected from the distal end of the guide catheter, further is advanced until a position beyond a stricture region (lesioned region) which occurs at the coronary artery. <III> Next, the balloon catheter is advanced until the stricture region through the guide wire for balloon catheter; the balloon portion is positioned at the stricture region and thereafter; the stricture region, that is, the blood vessel wall is pushed and expanded by expanding the balloon; and blood flow is restored by re-establishing the blood pathway.
As described above, in order to position a balloon catheter at a stricture region, there is required an extremely advanced skill for an operator, which includes complicated processes.
Therefore, in recent years, other than operations with respect to patients, there has been required a development of a living body model which is used in a training for upgrading an operator's skill.
For such a living body model, there was proposed, for example, in Patent Document 1, a production method of a tube model which makes a tube such as a blood vessel and a lymphatic vessel as a model.
More specifically, in the Patent Document 1, first, based on tomogram data of a test body, which were obtained by a diagnostic imaging apparatus such as a CT scanner, an MRI scanner and the like, a cavity region of this test body is picked up and a corresponding lumen model is lamination-shaped at this cavity region. Next, a three-dimensional model molding material is hardened in a state that the surrounding area of this lumen model is surrounded by a three-dimensional model molding material and thereafter, a tube model (three-dimensional model) is formed by removing the lumen model.
In a three-dimensional model having such a constitution, there is used an elastic material such as a silicone rubber, a polyurethane elastomer and the like for the three-dimensional model molding material, and the tube model is formed by being approximated with a physical property of a blood vessel or a lymphatic vessel. Then, this three-dimensional model is formed so as to surround the lumen model, so that also the stricture region which is a lesioned region is formed integrally with aforesaid tube and it happens that a physical property similar to that of the tube will be presented therein. However, for example, the stricture region formed at the blood vessel is constituted mainly by a plaque (deposit) in which cholesterol is deposited, so that the physical property thereof is largely different from that of the blood vessel.
Therefore, with respect to the three-dimensional model described in the Patent Document 1, it is not possible to implement a training corresponding to the physical property of the actual plaque which occurred at the stricture region and it is not possible to confirm the plaque state after inflating the balloon at the stricture region, so that there is such a problem that it is not possible to know how the restructuring of the flow path of the blood is to be carried out.
Further, the three-dimensional model is produced based on tomogram data of a test body of one person, so that in a case in which this test body is a healthy person, it is not possible to implement a training targeting a patient, that is, a training of inflating a balloon with respect to a stricture region. Also, even if the test body is a patient, it is only possible to carry out a training with respect to the position of the stricture region or the shape which the patient thereof possesses and it is not possible to implement a training corresponding to the stricture region which occurs depending on various kinds of positions and shapes.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Registered Patent No. 3613568